Feedback on Snatch

[Shannan Wilson]

I would love some feedback on my snatch technique. Until recently, my power snatch was greater than my squat snatch and am looking for any cues, tips, etc to help perfect technique. I have generally been told that I lift my hips/drop my chest when I lift the bar. This has been extremely difficult for me to correct. Any suggestions on how to correct this and my many other technical flaws would be much appreciated.

http://www.coachseye.com/JENi

Thanks in advance!!

Shannan

[Shannan Wilson]

I don't know if it is helpful in providing commentary, but here are some lifts from a couple of months ago...

http://www.youtube.com/crossfitsw

thanks again!

[Josh Hernandez]

Shannon, I think the only thing wrong is your start position and that first pull. When you take if off the ground, you sweep in to your body a little but work harder on pulling that bar back to you. You have fast, powerful hips and the trick is to get that bar to those hips and use your strength. My two suggestions to you would be 1. work on pulling from the ground to your knees SLOWLY to get the the feel of it (keep that lower back tight, it'll help) and 2. It looks like you have very long legs and I think it would help if you widen your stance a bit so you can get your torso between your legs instead of on top of them (it'll help with keeping that lower back tight). Try to really exaggerate the tightness in your start position. I hope that made sense!

[Greg Everett]

I would say that the problem isn't a lack of sweeping the bar back toward your body - In fact, you sweep it back too much. The problem is that your hips move up HIGHER than your shoulders, which should never be the case, no matter how long your legs are. In the time it takes your hips to reach that position, the bar moves up maybe 3 inches.

You're in way too much of a hurry lifting from the floor - you can't snatch from the floor, you need to snatch from the upper thigh. The key is getting there with the right posture and balance so you can hit the gas and get the right result.

I agree w Josh's suggestion to practice snatch deadlifts to the knee with a slow separation from the floor. Focus on pushing with the legs and lifting your chest - make your goal to keep your shoulders directly above the bar until it reaches your knees, and not much farther over it as it pass the knees.

You do have very long legs and appear to be tall overall, which is going to unquestionably make this lift more difficult for you than for many others. Chip away at hip flexibility and back strength so you can get into a somewhat deeper-hipped starting position with a strong back arch and chest up. Lots of snatch deadlifts focusing on that upright posture - squat the weight up if it helps to think of it that way.

When you're snatching, slow down that first pull. Initially, I mean really slow - like count to 3 from the floor to mid-thigh, then without slowing down or pausing, explode into the actual snatch. As you get more consistent with the lift, begin bringing the speed back up toward a more natural pace, but you HAVE TO take it easy separating the bar - tighten up and push the legs through the floor rather than yanking it.

Good luck!

[Shannan Wilson]

Greg & Josh-

Thank you so much for the help! Although I feel like I'm pulling slowly, I'm obviously not, given the commentary.

And Greg, yes I am tall - 5'10" with old track & field ankle injuries that make getting in to the bottom of my squat challenging, but I am working on improving mobility. Question, should I be cueing myself to push my knees out? Or should this correct itself by widening my stance and getting my torso between my legs? Thanks again for all the help!!

Shannan

[Greg Everett]

Yes, you will need to actively push the knees out in the starting position, although as your mobility improves, this will feel more natural and won't require much effort at all.